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Elisa Waingort

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A Teacher Musing Out Loud

  • NCTE Annual Convention 2012

    Yesterday I arrived in Las Vegas for the NCTE annual convention after a quick flight to Panama from Quito, Ecuador and a much longer one to Las Vegas.  A total of 12 hours of travel time.  Oh, and my suitcase didn’t arrive with me.  To my surprise, I remained relatively calm about my missing luggage… Read more

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  • Big Nate

    I would have never predicted I’d be writing this post today. But, I’m concerned.   No.  I’m worried. But, before I go any further, a little background information and a disclaimer. My 7-year-old son, soon to turn 8, is very adept at the computer.  He uses it primarily for entertainment and can spend hours checking… Read more

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  • We come back to do it all over again…

    Teachers do many jobs during the duration of our professional lives, some of which are not part of our job descriptions.  We maintain focus on several things at once, wear many hats at any given time, engage in professional learning on our own, and come back to do it all over again at the start… Read more

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  • Jackson Benson

    This week’s post is not about teaching.  It’s about a puppy.  Our family’s new puppy. After finding him – this took longer than I had thought possible – it was time to name him.  Although, my husband suggested we look online for names that would suit a black Labrador Retriever, my 7-year-old insisted on giving… Read more

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  • Patience

    In my new role as ESL teacher I am learning self-discipline and patience, even before the school year begins.  Although I can be self-disciplined when I need to be, I am not a very patient person.  I am thrown off course when confronted with ambiguous situations and unresolved issues, such as not knowing exactly what… Read more

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  • New Teacher Orientation – Day 2

         Yesterday was the second day of orientation for new teachers.  As usual, there’s a lot of information to digest and, although I retained some key ideas, I’m sure I will be relearning a lot of things over the coming months.  And, even though many of us present have done similar kinds of orientation… Read more

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  • Resolutions and Mistakes – the start of a new school year

         I just read a recent Mindsteps Blog post about teacher resolutions and making mistakes.  The skinny on that is that teachers start out each new school year by resolving not to make mistakes.  And, even though we know that’s humanly impossible – we all make mistakes – as teachers we hope that we can get it together by getting on a clean page at… Read more

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  • Eight Do’s and One Don’t About Report Cards…not in any particular order

    (1) Don’t wait until the last minute to write them.  I always think I can do report cards in 7 – 10 days; that just doesn’t work.  I need to give myself at least 3 weeks because there is always some other end-of-year task that needs to get done immediately after report cards are due,… Read more

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  • Not in my class…

              “He’s just bored, ” she said.            “No. I don’t accept that. In this class, he has lots of opportunities to challenge himself,” I responded.  Although seemingly calm when I said this, I was seething inside. This is what I was really thinking: “Not in my class.”   … Read more

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  • Teachers Write Summer Camp – Post #1

    Below is my writing plan for this summer and the next school year – the first assignment of sorts for the Teachers Write Summer Camp started by Kate Messner.  I am making this plan public so that my friends and acquaintances can hold me accountable/responsible for following through.  So, every so often ask me how I’m doing with… Read more

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